Lean Gurus

February 27th - March 1, 2007, Orlando, Florida. The 2007 INTERNATIONAL LEAN & SIX SIGMA CONFERENCE is for intermediate to expert knowledge levels of Lean and Six Sigma. Many presentations will require a sound understanding of Six Sigma.

I will be presenting during Session 3 at 1:30pm on Wed, February 28th. The title of my presentation is “Finance Company uses Lean to Improve Document Retention.”

Abstract: Lean techniques were used to save a document retention operation that was drowning in paper because financial documents were arriving faster than the department could process. Lean methodology was adopted and all manual processes were evaluated for waste, redundancy, and necessity. As a result, capacity increased so much that all backlog was cleared. Customer service delays reduced from over 14 days to less than 24 hours. Cost savings were realized, as staffing levels were re-allocated to value added positions within the company.

The following processes are examples which could be examined for the application of Lean tools:

• Generating and mailing documents
• Processing paperwork such as credit applications
• Servicing phone calls from branches
• Complying with regulatory agencies
• Conducting meetings

These represent general processes that exist in service or transactional organizations. The first step in a Lean company is to identify your opportunity for improvement.

Most service based companies such as financial organizations can reduce operating expenses through the reduction of waste a.k.a. non-value added work. For example, activities that require walking are considered non value-added. Also, process steps related to paper flow, order taking, communicating with customers, and data entry may be evaluated to see if they are value added by using new business practices such as Lean for Services.